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| (Photo by Emily Utne) |
Around the time the world was beginning a new millennium and looking to an exciting, if not a little bit scary, future filled with the unknown, Chris Perricelli was constructing Little Man, a rock ‘n’ roll band founded on the nostalgic and foundational sounds of the past. Perricelli was living in Chicago at the time, but promptly made the move to the Twin Cities. Here he quickly found success playing the small local clubs and impressing fans with, despite his small stature, a very big sound and an impressive stage presence. Chris sat down with me for an extended interview at The Blue Door in St. Paul. Perricelli proved to be a Little Man with big, profound ideas about life and music. He’s an intelligent and spiritual man and he’s making noise again in the Minnesota music scene with his latest EP, Orbital Amusement.
So, you’ve been around for a while and you have earned quite a list of accolades. You were nominated for best guitarist at the Minnesota Music Awards, was that 07, 06? I think it was 2007.
And then The Star Tribune and Pioneer Press both voted Soulful Automatic one of the Ten Best Local CD's of '07. Also in 2007, you were awarded Best Rock Band in the City Pages Best Of issue, you have adorned the cover of City Pages and have been called “The Next Big Thing.” This is an impressive list of honors. I also read about one infamous Best Mustache contest.
(Laughs) Ah, that’s a good one! It’s cool that you found that one. Yeah, I think I won third place place at the Turf Club Mustache Contest. I grew it for that and it never went away, so that’s where it came from.
Nice, so you have an award winning mustache. It is nice by the way.
(Laughs) Yeah, all I got was a button, but it was cool. Oh and I was also part of a calendar.
Oh, really? Was this a risqué kinda calendar deal?
No. I mean how risqué could it be? It was just me and my mustache (laughs). But it was really cool to be a part of that. They did a lot of things back then to help promote the venue, simple things that brought people in. It was a really cool thing to be a part of. Other then that, though, jeez, I don’t know, as far true...winning stuff, I think you got it all right there. Most of that happened because of Soulful Automatic. We did a real good push with that.
No, no, not at all. But that was the first album that I was on with Eclectone Records and that was pretty much the first one that got promoted fairly decently. And the songs are great and that’s pretty much what it comes down to. The songs on it connected to a lot of people in some way.
Great. Well, here’s a question. At Sky-Tinted Sound we’re focusing on local acts, on Minnesota artists--
Good.
One question I like to ask is why Minnesota? Why the Twin Cities? You’re from Massachusetts, is that right?
Yeah.
So you’re from the East Coast and there are definitely other places that are considered, or more thought of as, meccas for music and other arts on the East Coast like New York obviously, even Boston where you’re from, obviously California--you know there are a lot of starry-eyed musicians who want to move to California and try to make it big in one of the coastal cities--why do you stick around here? Why Minnesota?
Let’s see. I start off in Massachusetts. I moved to Chicago because of college and I was in the sound recording program there and then I hooked up with a band who was touring the country quite a bit and so I got to see other music scenes.
Was that Ike Reilly?
Yes, that’s right. So it was really cool to be able to see how other music scenes operated outside of Chicago, because Chicago was the place where I’d been. I was 21, so that was my first scene actually being able to go to clubs and play clubs and be a part of a music scene was in Chicago. I was too young when I lived in Massachusetts. I mean I was playing clubs there, cover band stuff, at an early age. So, being able to check out other cities’ music scenes was a really cool experience. And every time that we’d be in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities, I got an unbelievable sense of community and love for music and just the down-home gettin’-together-to-go-out-to-see-live-music. Also, I met my wife here and every time we were in town she would take me to the clubs and introduce me to musicians and that started getting me into the music scene here, so by the time I moved I already had some connections. And you know, New York City, L.A., great music towns obviously, but there’s just so much going on. It’s the same with Chicago. So, you know those three cities are national towns, so the scenes there, they have good local scenes, but it really takes a lot to break into those scenes, and there are little cliches. I think that most of the people that live in those cities like to go see national bands that come through. I think a place like the Twin Cities, yes we do love our national acts, but we also really love our local music. And the support that happens for local music in this town is really top-notch.
Like what?
There’s so much going on. There’s photographers that come out to see you and take pictures of you and they share stuff. There’s radio stations that plug local music, there’s radio stations that plug local music 24/7. There’s blogs, print magazines, there’s a lot supporting the scene and I enjoy it here.
Now, your wife, is she involved in the music scene--you said she introduced you to some of the local bands.
No, she’s just a music lover. Local music--St. Paul.
Well, that seems like a good fit.
Yeah, yeah.
What are some of your favorite local acts right now, or even years past?
Well, some of the stuff that BNLX is doing right now is really cool. They’ve got a bunch of EPs they’ve been putting out for a while now. That stuff’s awesome. Also, I just went to see the Strange Lights with Joe Werner, he was in Bridge Club before. He’s one of my favorite guitar players in town. He’s going to be putting together a new band.
Is that right?
Yeah. I don’t know what it’s called yet. Look for it.
We will.
What about your influences? Obviously, classic rock--
Yeah, my influences for sure come out of the classic rock era of the early 60’s and 70’s. That really is what comes through in my music is my familiarity with classic rock. This album is different in a way that it does have some of that, but its more of a modern album. The sounds that are produced are a little bit more of today. It kind of sounds a lot like Queen and Wolfmother and the new rock sound that’s going on today in a way. You know I listen to a lot of Kinks and Hendrix, Beatles, Rolling Stones, T. Rex, and David Bowie.
Oh, I can totally hear that.
Yeah, a lot of people associate the Marc Bolan thing with me and, of course, that’s really cool. I’m a huge fan of Marc Bolan and there is that familiarity with me. I love that guitar sound and I love how that song writing was, the riff rock, you know, and this album has a lot of that riff rock in it.
My next question was what’s new on this release, but you kind of answered that--
Yeah, but there’s quite a bit that’s new. First of all, I have a couple of new musicians with me. Drummer Sean Gilchrist offers a burly, earthy heaviness that works real well with the new sound and Brian Herb brings more of a punk rock assertiveness with his bass playing. Both bring a harder rocking steadiness for sure. But besides that, the newness of this album has to do with the sonic sound. It hasn’t been done on my other records, except for one of the songs, “Found is a Passion,” is more of what I’ve come to be known for in a way as far as my style. That song has a very familiar Little Man sound, so I didn’t get completely away from what we’ve been doing, but this stuff is just a little deeper, it’s a little heavier and it captures a lot of the live stuff that we do properly on disc.
So you’re experimenting a little bit, would you say?
Oh, yeah, I’d say experimenting with sounds. I spent hours and hours working with these effects from Z.Vex and riffing on them and thinking about them in my head and playing them all the time, playing them loud, playing them soft, playing them with different amps, playing them with different guitars, just figuring out how I could use this in a way that would work with what I do. And just the sounds of those things made me want to dig--you know, they were heavy thick sounds and it evoked this thing out of me that is spiritual in a way and it just wanted me--it made me want to--I was like there’s a part of this that needs to be expressed and these sounds can really help me catapult this into expression and peeling back the layers of who we think we are and getting to the root of things within ourselves that we believe have become us but are not really us.
Interesting. Deep stuff.
It is deep stuff and it can be dark stuff. And that was an element of this record that I wanted to express and these sounds helped me do that. It was like there’s nothing else I want to write about, it’s like that’s what it came to be out of riffing this stuff.
Do you find music to be rather spiritual, you know, the creative process of it?
It is obviously spiritual because it comes out of nowhere—who knows where that comes from? You know? Any form of art or expression comes out of—well, I like to say it comes out of the ether. You grab it and it just becomes. I mean, it’s already a part of you, it already exists, it just comes out in an expressive way sometimes. That’s what artists are able to do.
Speaking of Spirituality, and kind of looking within, it seems like lyrically that’s a lot of what we get on Orbital Amusement. Let’s talk for a second about the title track, “Orbital Amusement.” The lyrics are a bit obscure, and by that I don’t mean to imply that that’s bad. I love the song and, of course, some of the best art is rather obscure and I think its sometimes in that obscurity that we find meaning--
That obscurity is where you find meaning, you know, for yourself. I can’t be so direct in a song, you know, its got to be—I’m only putting it out there or giving you a path to walk down, but you walk it your own way and you discover something out of it your own way. I think the obscurity is what helps an individual cue it into themselves if they find meaning in it. I can’t be so exact with something.
Oh absolutely. And perhaps it’s that process of trying to find the meaning in a song where you really connect to it.
Uhm, yup.
At least that’s my experience with music anyway.
But, what were you saying about “Orbital Amusement”?
Oh, that’s what I was talking about is just that idea, but it seems to hinge on this--and what I’m really interested in is the “theoretical cubicle” in the beginning. Could you tell us a little bit about that?
Uhm. Well the song is mostly talking about—in general, with out putting an exact tag or stamp on it—it has to do with coming out of the box your mind is in, coming out of the way your mind has been doing things, coming out of the way your mind thinks about things, and being a little bit more open. You know, we fall into patterns as humans and those patterns drill—they bore trails in our brain and that’s where our brain wants to go every time and there are ways to reroute if you think of things differently and do things a different way. This song is more about being open to the possibilities beyond your cubicle thinking.
There’s a lot more going on than, you know, you think something’s right and everybody else is wrong. You know, it’s stuff like that in a way. It works on a lot of different levels, but that’s kind of what I‘m going at there, but the song is very playful. When I was first writing the song, the chorus came out right away. Orbital amusement, the phrase, came out right away and had to do with the sound that I was getting out of the guitar. It made me think of an orbital theme—the sound of the effect. Then it kind of starts out as—like I might have that idea that we just talked about, but then I want to put it through to you by presenting it as some fictional story. I think about drive-in theater, I think about satellites, I think about bright lights and seeing something bright in the sky. There’s that generalness about it, but then there’s the undertones about the mind-opening aspect of it, it’s really--this stuff is hard for me to explain, and why I don’t do these interviews all the time, explaining my stuff, but I’m just saying it sparks from somewhere and then with fiction I step it up a notch, and then--um--sorry Jimi Hendrix is on the radio (laughs)--
Pretty distracting.
Yeah (laughs)...distracting, it is very much, but--
But you try to find a medium or a vehicle for that--
A vehicle, exactly. There’s got to be a way for people to grab on. Music is that way for me, you know?
Yeah, I get that. I totally get that. Well, let’s jump to “Shadow” and “The Tower” for a moment here. These two songs seem to have some darker tones and deal with some inner struggles and, I think, with “The Tower” even some external struggles in that way. Is that accurate?
Yeah, yeah, that’s accurate. “The Tower” and--well, “Shadow” is accepting the darker side of yourself that everybody has. When you take a good look at yourself and you’re peeling back the layers of who you think you are I think you’ll find some things that you’re not too happy about and, I think, that’s something in everybody, that everybody has, it’s just a matter of accepting those things. But that’s kind of where that darkness comes from. Again, that riff that I come up with for that tune, it makes me think about that, and I want to sing about it. It just happens that way. But that song’s about facing reality.
So is it a varied process for you? Sometimes the songs are based on the sound that you come up with--that riff--and sometimes they’re based on the words that you, or the ideas that you, develop in your mind. Is there a particular process?
It usually comes from me riffing out and saying whatever comes out of my head and whatever fits with what’s going on and then I put everything away and start writing stuff. So then things start to fit that way.
I am really interested in “Gorilla fighter.” I really, really like that song--I like all the songs on the album--
Thank you.
But “Gorilla Fighter” really stands out to me. This appears to be a little bit, maybe, political in some way especially judging from the lyrics: “With sympathy and weaponry you are, / A savior to you and me and all.” What is this song about? Is it political?
(Laughing) I love it, you see that’s why I love being a musician, and it’s just like what we were talking about, people have--
I’m totally off, huh?
No. No, you’re on it 100%. That’s what you’re getting out of it. And that’s where the song takes you?
Yes.
Then it works. I’ve done my job there. It’s not necessarily what I had in mind when I wrote it. In fact, it’s not at all what I had in mind when I wrote it (laughing). That’s why I’m laughing, because it’s great, it makes me happy that people take it into their own realms, because that’s what I want them to do. No matter where it takes them. If it takes them into a dark place, then, you know, I’m glad it took you there. If it takes you into a happy place, then I’m glad it took you there. You’re going to learn something either way I'm hoping.
Um, I can totally see that though. With the title “Gorilla Fighter” I’m trying to come up with words that have to do with fighting. And again that’s where fictional things come about. As a song writer I’m trying to come up with things that sound good. I love that line a lot, that’s one of my favorite lines of the track, no doubt. I don’t know. It just rolled off the tongue. That line just came off by me just playing the tune, and that line: “With sympathy and weaponry you are, / A savior to you and me”...that just came about all at once, you know. [Listen to "Gorilla Fighter" below]
That’s amazing.
Yeah, I like that line a lot, for sure. I’m proud of that.
So is this song more about, again like “Shadow” and “The Tower,” there are other songs that have lyrics that make reference to fighting. Is this more about internal struggles?
That is an internal struggle for sure.
Okay.
With “The Tower,” we didn’t talk about that one too much, but with that, it’s like--that has to do with the tarot card--the tower--that’s where I got the inspiration for that, but also how the effects of that song evoke that, you know, destruction. When you’re finding out that you’re not your ego, that’s like the biggest crash ever. I’m more than just myself. I’m a part of everything. I’m like intertwined with all that is. I am, as you are, everything. I’m not just, myself, fighting against the world and the universe. I am that already--just as much as you are. I’m not saying I’m god and you’re not, I’m saying, what people, quote unquote, say is god is many things, but if we’re one, then you’re one too. It’s not a narcissistic thing. It’s not an ego trip--
I’d say quite the opposite.
And that is “The Tower”--that’s what you’re trying to convey in “The Tower”?
Right, right. And then “Gorilla Fighter” is the fight to be present. That is your ego instinct versus your true self in the way that, you know, over the many years of living you have many things that you’ve grown into, the compulsions, the obsessions, not only for myself, but for many people, and then who we think we are as ourselves. And the gorilla fighter is the fight against that--it’s the constant struggle for me to be present and to live in the spiritual realm which is the normal realm, you know, and realizing it is realizing that, hey, this is it. But your ego is always trying to push up against that, its always fighting to not be here, it’s always fighting to put you somewhere else.
This might be, maybe, more in depth than I’ve ever gone into this stuff before, but a lot of my music has to do with this topic. I want to say that this is different from Of Mind and Matter and Soulful Automatic, in the fact that this is digging a lot deeper and expressing parts of ourselves that are difficult to deal with, I suppose, but are a part of us at the time. The sounds that I created with this album just made me want to write about it. There’s no other place where these songs could have gone because of how they sound. I have to give props to Zachary Vex for helping me with that. It comes together because the sound put me there in a way. It’s something that’s always been a part of me, it’s just that these sounds give me an opportunity to express myself.
Right, and that’s your vehicle, your medium.
Right, right.
You’re very good with it. Have any of these tracks been released yet as singles?
Oh, well, I think The Current singled “Found is a Passion” [listen to "Found is a Passion" below]. Which is great, and I’m very thankful for it, but that song’s not taking as many risks as the other tunes.
So, you would have liked to have seen one of the others?--
Yeah, just because the sound is a little bit different. But that song, “Found is a Passion,” is very much a part of this EP in the fact that it rounds everything out. It’s the equalizer. It’s showing you that in order to evolve you have to evolve from something. Out of the muck and the mud comes the flower and the sunshine.
This song seems...I don’t want to use the word hopeful, but among these darker tones, that seems to be the one that is brighter in a way--
Yeah, yeah.
You can get stuck in this darkness, but there is, you know, “Found is a Passion” is the possibility--
Yeah, yeah. Exactly. But I wouldn’t say darkness. I don’t think that’s the right word.
Right.
It might be darker, but I’m not saying that we’re coming out of darkness or dealing with evil realms of any sort, but, it’s like everyone’s personal struggle is with themselves. That could be just about anything. It’s hard to be completely happy with yourself. Happiness is an individual thing; it’s perspective.
I like that song a lot. It’s one of the most beautiful tunes...when Ed and I--Ed Tinley--we talk about the recordings and stuff like that, and I told him, “man, that song is gorgeous.” And I thank him from the bottom of my heart. Some of that stuff almost brings a tear to my eye or makes my eyes a little watery, that an idea evolves into that and it sounds so good. I’m happy about it and that he’s able to get me to that point. I need help to do this. I can’t do it alone. Just like we were saying about being a part of everything. The common quote is, ‘no man is an island,’ you know.
Yeah, that was Donne, I think.
Yeah, but you see, all these things are happening. Everything happens together and you need to have help in certain areas.
Right. I know that’s true. So, now, tell us what’s next for Little Man? Are you guys touring with Orbital Amusement? What should we expect?
Well, I’ve got a bunch of songs. Obviously, this is only an EP. I’ve compiled a bunch a of songs that are rip, roaring and ready to go. It’s just that--
Can we expect an album?--soon?
Ahhh...I need some financial backing in order for that to happen. I’ve put everything into this record as I always do. And this is an independent release on my record label, Modern Moon, so I need to work to make money to do it. We just need to decide what direction we want to take too. I want every album to be different. You know, the more records you put out the more you want to do different stuff. Pretty much with every record a lot of the songs just don’t sound the same from one to another and that’s what I want to do with an album. I want to write good songs and I love being in the studio and creating something. I’ve got my demos and then I’ve got the recorded versions and they’re usually two completely different things, not completely, but they’re very different from each other. It's hard for me to create something as a demo and then go into the studio and recreate it. That’s an issue that Ed and I have talked about.
So, that’s typically what happens?
That’s typically what happens. So, I think maybe in the future, I might be doing a lot of demo work knowing that that’ll be the actual take. I’ll try to up my game in the recording process myself and make things sound a little bit better. That way when it comes to recording I’ve got those first takes from the very beginning. It’s hard for me, you know, with attachment, it’s hard for me--you know with the ego is being attached to stuff. I get attached to my demos and my guitar solos and the tones I get and all that. I spend so much time just trying to make a demo sound good and we get to a studio and then we’ve got to do it all over again. And I find myself wanting to recreate a guitar solo and it doesn’t work that way. I go in there and I perform on the spot. We might have to roll through it a few times, but a lot of that stuff, as far as guitar solos go, we come up with in the moment which is a very zen thing so I’m proud of that very much.
You should be. That’s cool. So, are you guys going on tour?
Probably just going to be doing regional and the Midwest for now until we can get up some more money to go farther.
Are you familiar with Kickstarter?
Yes. Another interviewer came up with that too.
I just recently discovered that myself actually.
Oh, okay. Yeah, people have really been able to get their projects funded and that’s just great. I think it’s a really cool thing--a part of the community too. You pull in everybody together to help something and it’s a mutual thing you know--they get what they want, you get what you want.
You seem a little apprehensive about that though.
Well, I am because who wants to be begging for money. I hate to say it, but that’s just honestly how I feel. At the same time I see Kickstarter in my future, you know (laughs), because if I’ve seen it be successful with other people and I’m really struggling with trying to fund projects and if people want something then I’m willing to give it to them as a mutual project. You know, that’s great. That’s a little hard, it’s like--again, see what I’m talking about? That’s the ego talking. That’s the ego saying I can do it all myself and I don’t need the help and I’m ashamed to say that I’m broke from recording and all the things that I have to do to keep things going. It’s not an easy thing for anyone to do--to admit that stuff.
Absolutely.
A lot of people want to be in the fantasy that I got a lot of things thrown at me, or there’s a lot of money to be spent or I’m selling thousands of records. But I’m an independent musician that’s getting by, and I’m doing just about everything myself. It’s what I love to do and that’s what I’m doing; therefore, I’m successful as long as I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m grateful for people to buy my music because I hope that people enjoy it, but I also hope that they’re getting something out of it beyond enjoyment. I hope that it really makes people think or that they get something out of it, it may not be what I want them to get out of it, but they're getting something out of it.
Right, like my assessment of “Gorilla Fighter.”
Yeah (laughs), right. Right.
So, again we are focusing on the Minnesota music scene and we want to help to promote and encourage younger artists as well as covering more established acts. As a successful local artist what advice can you give for young, passionate, hopeful musicians who are just kind of getting their start?
Right. I think that your view of what success is has to be thought about. Its great to have goals and its great to work for something, its what you do. It’s great to accomplish your goals, but you have to realize that accomplishing those goals, and doing those things, whether they’re accomplished or not, that’s a process that you are committing yourself to and that itself is what you should be passionate about, you know, going through the process of accomplishing. The music industry changes so quickly that you can’t wait for things to happen, you really have to do them yourself. I’ve waited before and if you really love what you’re doing then you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do so you can continue to do what you love to do. You have to be in it because you love it. You can’t be in it to make money. You can’t be in it to sell a lot of records. When that happens its a plus, that’s great, but you really got to be in it because you love doing it. There’s nothing you can do but create your music.
***
Be sure to catch Chris Pericelli and his band, Little Man, rocking one of our local stages soon. And head to your local record store to get yourself a copy of Orbital Amusement. You can also purchase it HERE or from iTunes or CD Baby; or head over to Little Man’s music page for this and more.
Little Man by Sky-Tinted Sound
Little Man EP Release Show at The Turf Club (6/27/11)
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